[Home]  [Headlines]  [Latest Articles]  [Latest Comments]  [Post]  [Mail]  [Sign-in]  [Setup]  [Help]  [Register] 

Utopian Visionaries Who Won’t Leave People Alone

No - no - no Ain'T going To get away with iT

Pete Buttplug's Butt Plugger Trying to Turn Kids into Faggots

Mark Levin: I'm sick and tired of these attacks

Questioning the Big Bang

James Webb Data Contradicts the Big Bang

Pssst! Don't tell the creationists, but scientists don't have a clue how life began

A fine romance: how humans and chimps just couldn't let go

Early humans had sex with chimps

O’Keefe dons bulletproof vest to extract undercover journalist from NGO camp.

Biblical Contradictions (Alleged)

Catholic Church Praising Lucifer

Raising the Knife

One Of The HARDEST Videos I Had To Make..

Houthi rebels' attack severely damages a Belize-flagged ship in key strait leading to the Red Sea (British Ship)

Chinese Illegal Alien. I'm here for the moneuy

Red Tides Plague Gulf Beaches

Tucker Carlson calls out Nikki Haley, Ben Shapiro, and every other person calling for war:

{Are there 7 Deadly Sins?} I’ve heard people refer to the “7 Deadly Sins,” but I haven’t been able to find that sort of list in Scripture.

Abomination of Desolation | THEORY, BIBLE STUDY

Bible Help

Libertysflame Database Updated

Crush EVERYONE with the Alien Gambit!

Vladimir Putin tells Tucker Carlson US should stop arming Ukraine to end war

Putin hints Moscow and Washington in back-channel talks in revealing Tucker Carlson interview

Trump accuses Fulton County DA Fani Willis of lying in court response to Roman's motion

Mandatory anti-white racism at Disney.

Iceland Volcano Erupts For Third Time In 2 Months, State Of Emergency Declared

Tucker Carlson Interview with Vladamir Putin

How will Ar Mageddon / WW III End?

What on EARTH is going on in Acts 16:11? New Discovery!

2023 Hottest in over 120 Million Years

2024 and beyond in prophecy

Questions

This Speech Just Broke the Internet

This AMAZING Math Formula Will Teach You About God!

The GOSPEL of the ALIENS | Fallen Angels | Giants | Anunnaki

The IMAGE of the BEAST Revealed (REV 13) - WARNING: Not for Everyone

WEF Calls for AI to Replace Voters: ‘Why Do We Need Elections?’

The OCCULT Burger king EXPOSED

PANERA BREAD Antichrist message EXPOSED

The OCCULT Cheesecake Factory EXPOSED

Satanist And Witches Encounter The Cross

History and Beliefs of the Waldensians

Rome’s Persecution of the Bible

Evolutionists, You’ve Been Caught Lying About Fossils

Raw Streets of NYC Migrant Crisis that they don't show on Tv

Meet DarkBERT - AI Model Trained On DARK WEB

[NEW!] Jaw-dropping 666 Discovery Utterly Proves the King James Bible is God's Preserved Word

ALERT!!! THE MOST IMPORTANT INFORMATION WILL SOON BE POSTED HERE


Status: Not Logged In; Sign In

Business
See other Business Articles

Title: Hostess, Maker Of Twinkies, To Go Out Of Business; Strike Cited
Source: Los Angeles Times
URL Source: http://www.latimes.com/business/mon ... uiness-20121116,0,3714808.post
Published: Nov 16, 2012
Author: Alana Semuels
Post Date: 2012-11-16 10:21:48 by Brian S
Keywords: None
Views: 37048
Comments: 68

NEW YORK -- Twinkies may last forever, but the same can’t be said for the company that makes the cream-filled sponge cake. Hostess Brands Inc., the company that makes Twinkies and Wonder Bread, has asked a judge for permission to go out of business and lay off 18,500.

The company is blaming its decision to shut down on a labor strike by members of the Bakery, Confectionary, Tobacco Workers and Grain Millers International Union, but Americans’ appetite for junk food has been waning in recent years. The company has filed for bankruptcy twice this decade, the last time in January.

"We deeply regret the necessity of today's decision, but we do not have the financial resources to weather an extended nationwide strike," Gregory F. Rayburn, Hostess' chief executive, said in a statement.

Many businesses have faced labor unrest in the recovery from the recession as they try to dial back benefits and wages and unions resist. In 2011, for example, there were 19 major strikes and lockouts involving more than 1,000 workers, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, up from 11 in 2010. The 2011 strikes accounted for 1.02 million lost workdays.

The union said in a statement that Hostess made unreasonable demands, including wage and benefit cuts of around 30% for workers, while top executives of the company received large pay increases.

“The crisis facing Hostess Brands is the result of nearly a decade of financial and operational mismanagement that resulted in two bankruptcies, mountains of debt, declining sales and lost market share,” said union President Frank Hurt. “The Wall Street investors who took over the company after the last bankruptcy attempted to resolve the mess by attacking the company’s most valuable asset – its workers.”

Hostess, based in Irving, Texas, has 565 distribution centers around the country, as well as 33 bakeries and 570 bakery outlets. The union says 24 production facilities are currently on strike.

It said it had filed a motion with U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Robert Drain in White Plains, N.Y., for permission to shut down and sell assets.

The company’s brands include Twinkies, Drake’s and Nature’s Pride. It also makes Wonder bread, which was America’s first sliced bread, according to the company’s website.

It plans to sell its assets to the highest bidders.

Post Comment   Private Reply   Ignore Thread  


TopPage UpFull ThreadPage DownBottom/Latest

Begin Trace Mode for Comment # 60.

#4. To: Brian S (#0)

The union says 24 production facilities are currently on strike.

And I hope that every single one of those union workers on strike never find another job for the rest of their lives. Once their unemployment benefits run out,let them go live in caves in the words.

sneakypete  posted on  2012-11-16   14:43:36 ET  Reply   Untrace   Trace   Private Reply  


#5. To: sneakypete (#4)

Once their unemployment benefits run out,let them go live in caves in the words.

The Teamster workers at Hostess are pissed off 'big time'. They took significant pay and pension cuts back in September.

Brian S  posted on  2012-11-16   15:52:30 ET  Reply   Untrace   Trace   Private Reply  


#6. To: Brian S (#5)

The Teamster workers at Hostess are pissed off 'big time'. They took significant pay and pension cuts back in September.

What about the other union workers? Did they refuse to take less and thereby stick a knife in the backs of the Teamsters?

I just saw non-Teamster Hostess union workers being interviewed on the evening news a short while ago,and they were babbling "giving this company everything for 30 years and this is the way they treat me!" crap while complaining about the owners and management earning more money than them.

sneakypete  posted on  2012-11-16   17:57:42 ET  Reply   Untrace   Trace   Private Reply  


#7. To: sneakypete, Hostess Blames Union For Bankruptcy After Tripling CEOs Pay (#6)

What about the other union workers? Did they refuse to take less and thereby stick a knife in the backs of the Teamsters?

It is the Bakers Union that went on strike.

Here is a related article that I had heard some grumbling about earlier:

Hostess Blames Union For Bankruptcy After Tripling CEO’s Pay

Today, Hostess Brands inc. — the company famed for its sickly sweet desert snacks like Twinkies and Sno Balls — announced they’d be shuttering after more than eighty years of production.

But while headlines have been quick to blame unions for the downfall of the company there’s actually more to the story: While the company was filing for bankruptcy, for the second time, earlier this year, it actually tripled its CEO’s pay, and increased other executives’ compensation by as much as 80 percent.

At the time, creditors warned that the decision signaled an attempt to “sidestep” bankruptcy rules, potentially as a means for trying to keep the executive at a failing company. The Confectionery, Tobacco Workers & Grain Millers International Union pointed this out in their written reaction to the news that the business is closing:

BCTGM members are well aware that as the company was preparing to file for bankruptcy earlier this year, the then CEO of Hostess was awarded a 300 percent raise (from approximately $750,000 to $2,550,000) and at least nine other top executives of the company received massive pay raises. One such executive received a pay increase from $500,000 to $900,000 and another received one taking his salary from $375,000 to $656,256.

Certainly, the company agreed to an out-sized pension debt, but the decision to pay executives more while scorning employee contracts during a bankruptcy reflects a lack of good managerial judgement.

It also follows a trend of rising CEO pay in times of economic difficulty. At the manufacturing company Caterpillar, for example, they froze workers’ pay while boosting their CEO’s pay to $17 million. And at Citigroup, CEO Vikram Pandit received $6.7 million for crashing his company, walking off with $260 million after the business lost 88 percent of its value.

Brian S  posted on  2012-11-16   18:14:34 ET  Reply   Untrace   Trace   Private Reply  


#8. To: Brian S (#7)

Certainly, the company agreed to an out-sized pension debt, but the decision to pay executives more while scorning employee contracts during a bankruptcy reflects a lack of good managerial judgement.

Yes,it does,but those wage increases are only for less than a dozen people,and amount to a miniscule portion of their operating costs.

AND.....,a solid argument could be made that the CEO and other board members worth to the company is considerably more than that of a bubba with a 8th grade education that has been boxing up Ho Ho's for the last 20 years.

I have zero sympathy for people content to spend their entire working lives at dead-end jobs that require nothing more than a few muscles and a pulse,and then while they aren't getting paid enough or somebody is earning more.

If they want more money,maybe they should have taken a few night classes and learned a skilled trade or a white collar job that can be used elsewhere?

sneakypete  posted on  2012-11-16   18:24:26 ET  Reply   Untrace   Trace   Private Reply  


#32. To: sneakypete (#8)

I have zero sympathy for people content to spend their entire working lives at dead-end jobs that require nothing more than a few muscles and a pulse,and then while they aren't getting paid enough or somebody is earning more.

If they want more money,maybe they should have taken a few night classes and learned a skilled trade or a white collar job that can be used elsewhere?

EXACTLY.

I was faced with that exact choice, and made the commitment to go back to school. That was ~22 years ago; boot-strapped my way along, working different jobs, typically 50+ hours a week...

I started out with a skill (factory maintenance), but I wanted more... I wanted a LOT more. Unlike my co-workers, I was not satisfied with a dead-end job.

The results are manifest; the factory that I was at, when I made that decision, has been shut down. Most of my friends from there have been financially wiped-out, lost their homes, and are in desperate straights. In contrast, I've been steadily employed, earning triple what I had been making (in inflation-adjusted dollars). And I'm entertaining the idea of moving to another state to take a C-suite position with a boutique company.

The people that stay at a factory for 30 years, and think they will never have to better themselves, never have to stay competitive in the labor market, are fools. They now reap the reward for their laziness- a pink slip.

Completely predictable.

Capitalist Eric  posted on  2012-11-18   10:57:13 ET  Reply   Untrace   Trace   Private Reply  


#37. To: Capitalist Eric (#32)

The people that stay at a factory for 30 years, and think they will never have to better themselves, never have to stay competitive in the labor market, are fools. They now reap the reward for their laziness- a pink slip.

To be fair to them,many of them are second or even third generation factory workers there,don't have much of an education,and have been told their whole lives by their family members,neighbors,and union officials that they don't have to think or worry about anything because those jobs will always be there and they will always be getting raises.

When it's all they have ever heard,was true for their parents,and all they know,can you REALLY blame them for not waking up and looking around?

sneakypete  posted on  2012-11-18   13:32:47 ET  Reply   Untrace   Trace   Private Reply  


#56. To: sneakypete (#37)

When it's all they have ever heard,was true for their parents,and all they know,can you REALLY blame them for not waking up and looking around?

I heard a lot of the same stuff... Ironically, my parents were proud of me for being a line technician in a factory, and thought it was a great gig.

An interesting thing, in that line of work, is that you're never expected to perform the "right" repairs... that is, fix the machinery so that it's at top condition. Instead, you're merely expected to get it "close enough" so that it'll run, even if the quality of output is somewhat diminished.

I couldn't accept such a viewpoint; I like doing a job once, doing it well, and moving on. They didn't care about that level of precision, and this divergence of attitude is what ultimately made me decide that I wanted more.

A fellow technician told me, "the only way you'll keep from going insane here, is to simply have the attitude of 'collect a paycheck.'" I refused to allow myself to have that attitude, as it's antithetical to me. But that attitude- sadly- is quite the norm, in production facilities.

Capitalist Eric  posted on  2012-11-19   11:42:15 ET  Reply   Untrace   Trace   Private Reply  


#60. To: Capitalist Eric (#56)

Ironically, my parents were proud of me for being a line technician in a factory, and thought it was a great gig.

Yup. I knew many people that went through the same thing. Certain factory jobs were even looked at as a dream come true,and the ultimate goal in life.

I once knew a guy that worked at a Ford plant that is now closed. I ran into him one Saturday at a 7-11,and asked him if he was going to work. He said he was,because he couldn't turn down the 50 bucks per hour rate he got for working Saturdays. He also said he wouldn't even get out of bed for less than $25 per hour. This was in the late 80's or early 90's,and he was in his early 20's. A uncle had gotten him his job there as a some sort of laborer.

I'm betting he's getting out of bed for a lot less than $25 per hour now,even ignoring inflation.

HOW could these people POSSIBLY think this Golden Goose was never going to die,and that the cars and trucks they were producing were going to keep selling at the same rate no matter how high the companies had to charge for the product to make a profit after labor and other expenses? WHERE did they think other people were going to get the money from to pay those prices for a new car or truck? Especially when they could buy a cheaper Japanese import that was cheaper to buy,cheaper to operate,and usually made better?

sneakypete  posted on  2012-11-19   13:45:44 ET  Reply   Untrace   Trace   Private Reply  


Replies to Comment # 60.

#62. To: sneakypete (#60)

HOW could these people POSSIBLY think this Golden Goose was never going to die...

Simple. They merely accepted the "collect a paycheck" mentality, and decided that it was a satisfactory arrangement.

That is, by merely showing up and going through the motions, that nothing would ever change.

There's an old Japanese proverb, "He who prepares is not guaranteed success. But he who fails to prepare, is guaranteed failure."

Regards,

Capitalist Eric  posted on  2012-11-19 14:07:08 ET  Reply   Untrace   Trace   Private Reply  


#66. To: sneakypete (#60)

Cya Twinkies! Hostess Brand Inc. seeks approval to liquidate

Ferret Mike  posted on  2012-11-19 19:41:41 ET  Reply   Untrace   Trace   Private Reply  


End Trace Mode for Comment # 60.

TopPage UpFull ThreadPage DownBottom/Latest

[Home]  [Headlines]  [Latest Articles]  [Latest Comments]  [Post]  [Mail]  [Sign-in]  [Setup]  [Help]  [Register] 

Please report web page problems, questions and comments to webmaster@libertysflame.com